After the daughter brought her granddaughter from China to the United States, she felt that the poor self-care ability of children was the second, and the biggest obstacle was language. People living in Chinese environment suddenly come to English environment, and even adults can't adapt, let alone children. In order to let the children adapt to American life as soon as possible, the daughter teaches her granddaughter some common English words in life at home, such as hello teacher, eating, drinking water, going to the toilet, and preparing to send the children to kindergarten.
Kindergartens in the United States are all private, with different charging standards and different management. Better kindergartens have to queue up in the order of application, so it is difficult to get admission opportunities. My daughter visited several kindergartens near her place of residence, and chose one that is far away but has good conditions to register for her granddaughter, but she also needs to queue up. The teacher told me that she was ranked third and would call when it was her turn to enter the park. The advantage here is the queue, everything is open and transparent, and there will be no queue-jumping.
The consultation fee is $800 a month, which is really expensive and a little painful. But compared with other places, the fees here are already very low, and Boston is much more expensive than here. According to statistics, the average cost of nurseries and kindergartens in the United States is 1 1666 dollars per year, ranging from $3,500 to18,000 dollars per year. What I reported to my granddaughter was a better kindergarten in the local area, and the fees were lower than the national average. I also feel balanced in my heart. In the United States, universities and kindergartens charge the highest fees at both ends of children's education. So in some low-income families, mothers will give up their jobs to take care of their children and never send their children to kindergarten at all. Nearly 30% of children in America are taken care of by their mothers.
In less than a month, the kindergarten informed the children that they could send it. The daughter took her children through the admission formalities, and the teacher took her and her children around the kindergarten, introducing the current situation of the kindergarten while watching. There are places for children's indoor and outdoor activities, all kinds of facilities and toys, clean and tidy, and there are special chefs to cook. According to different ages, each class has 15 children, two teachers and one teaching assistant. The ratio of students to teachers is unified in the United States, and kindergartens are no exception. Although they are private, they can't recruit more children to make money. With fewer children in the teacher's charge, of course, it will be more considerate and reassuring.
Surrounded by strangers, plus the language barrier, my granddaughter was very uncomfortable in the first few days of kindergarten, and she cried when her mother left. But in less than a week, I got used to it. About half a month later, the granddaughter has been able to understand part of the teacher's words, and she can basically adapt to kindergarten life by nodding or shaking her head or using the simplest "yes", "no" and "good". After three months, there were basically no obstacles for granddaughter to communicate with teachers and classmates. We didn't expect it to be so soon. It seems that in the English environment, children adapt faster than us adults.
(2)
One of my relatives is a kindergarten teacher in our hometown. Their kindergarten will teach children pinyin, Arabic numerals, simple addition and subtraction, nursery rhymes and so on. Children have books, homework, almost all courses in the first grade of primary school, and exams. China's education department proposes to reduce the burden, but it is only a verbal meaning. Parents want their children to learn as much as possible. Their kindergarten reduced some courses according to the requirements of their superiors, but it attracted strong opposition from parents: "What do you do without teaching knowledge in your kindergarten?"
Teaching knowledge is also the need of kindergarten competition, and no one from leaders to teachers dares to neglect it. Not only in kindergarten, but also at home, children will not be idle, learning to read, recite Tang poems, teach children's songs, play the piano and learn dance. Some child stars constantly introduced by TV stations have also played a role in fueling the situation.
China people believe that "art is not amazing and never dies", which may produce prodigies or stars. It's okay not to be a child prodigy star. In short, the more knowledge and talent, the better. But my granddaughter has been in kindergarten in the United States for more than half a year, and she still hasn't seen what the teacher teaches. Is it true that kindergartens in America don't teach anything?
My daughter participates in kindergarten children's activities, communicates with teachers, and listens to her granddaughter's introduction when she gets home. You know, besides eating and sleeping, the most important thing for kindergarten children every day is playing.
There is no unified textbook in kindergartens here. What to teach is decided by several teachers. Mom, dad, dogs, spiders, ants, snowflakes, pumpkins, Christmas, anything can be used as a theme. The teacher tells stories, plays with the children and guides the children to speak freely around the theme. The discussion is just for communication, and there is no answer. The purpose is to inspire children's thinking, let children initially perceive knowledge, and cultivate learning interests and habits. They think this is the beginning of correct learning.
This reminds me of a famous lawsuit that once caused a sensation in America. 1968, Edith, a three-year-old girl from Nevada, told her mother that she knew the letter "O" on the gift box, which was taught by the teacher. After praising her daughter, the mother complained about her daughter's Laura III kindergarten. Because she thought her daughter could describe "O" as round things, such as apples, the sun, football and eggs, Edith lost this ability since Laura III taught her to read 26 letters in kindergarten. She asked the kindergarten to be responsible for the consequences and compensate Edith for her mental disability10 million dollars. The reason is that the kindergarten cut off Edith's wing, an imaginary wing. Imagination is more important than knowledge. It is the source and foundation of innovation and will affect her life's flight. The lawsuit that seems to be making a mountain out of a molehill or even unreasonable has won! Perhaps inspired by this lawsuit, Nevada also amended the Law on the Protection of Civic Education, and now the American Civil Rights Law also stipulates that children have the right to play in kindergartens.
Playing is the right way, and imparting knowledge has become an evil way, which is not only evil, but also illegal. The concepts of early childhood education in China and the United States are so different. I feel fresh and dizzy, and I can't find the north at once!
Through continuous understanding, we know that this concept of early childhood education is not unique to Americans, and the German Constitution also prohibits preschool education. It is forbidden to develop children's intelligence prematurely through state intervention, which shows that their concept of early childhood education is very different from ours.
Because of the differences in traditional culture, I still don't understand why the laws of the United States and Germany stipulate this. I asked American preschool teachers, and they told me that life grows in stages, and education should conform to the law of children's natural growth. Giving children knowledge and developing intelligence through early education will destroy their imagination, which is an indispensable factor for a person to become a success. Children's nature is to play, so we should do things that are in line with children's nature and should not violate children's growth laws.
Objectively looking at Chinese and American preschool education has its successes and shortcomings. You can't simply affirm or deny it. Early childhood education in the United States really deserves our serious consideration and study.
(1) Admission
Compulsory education in the United States, from preschool to high school graduation, the public schools where students go to school nearby to undertake compulsory education teaching tasks are completely divided according to their residence. You can go to any school where you live, whether you own a house or rent a house. What the school wants to see is not your real estate license, but your recent telephone bill or utility bill, which proves that you really live in this place. As long as you live here, your children can go to school here regardless of your status. This is true for our own children, and it is also true for the children of foreign immigrants. Children of immigrants with legal status are no exception, and they still accept nothing. There is a discipline in the American government that teachers are not allowed to ask parents whether their immigration status is legal (that is the matter of immigration), otherwise students may be scared to come to school. Legal or illegal immigration is the responsibility of parents. The child is innocent. Their basic education is an inalienable human right.
When the granddaughter reaches school age, the daughter takes her granddaughter to a nearby primary school to register, and just write the address on the application form. As long as it is within the coverage of the school, where you write is the place where the school doesn't ask or care. Americans trust you. However, the relevant institutions sometimes send people to conduct spot checks. If fraud is found, it is a serious integrity problem. In addition to fines, there will be bad records, which will bring great inconvenience to the parties, and almost no one dares to do so. Registration here is not only free of tuition, but also free of textbook fees. Compared with kindergarten, it saves a lot of money. Textbooks are purchased by the school, lent to students, returned to the school before the end of the semester, and lent to students in the next school year. I think American rich people are really stingy, but the teacher said that this not only saves investment, but also enables children to form the habit of cherishing books.
After the school registration, take the children to the class to see the teacher. The class teacher said to buy two pencils and two paper books for the children. He also said that once in a while, school activities have to be paid, and photos need to be bought to take pictures of the whole class, but these are voluntary. If the children don't attend, they don't have to pay. The other is breakfast and lunch, which can be eaten in the school cafeteria. Breakfast is about one dollar, lunch is about two and a half dollars, and you can also bring your own food. Families with financial difficulties can also apply for free brunch.
(2) I can't see the students' grades and rankings.
The school is far from the residential area, and few children go to school on foot. Every time after school, there is a long queue of cars in front of the school, which extends to one or two kilometers on the expressway, disrupting the traffic order on the expressway. Fortunately, everyone can understand that children go to school in the morning and leave school in the afternoon. There are always volunteers here to maintain order and direct traffic, and there will be no confusion. Every day my daughter sends her children to school, and sometimes I follow. I often hear American parents say to their children, "Have fun!" I've been thinking, why not tell me to study hard? Do you go to school for fun? The first thing American parents say when they pick up their children from school is, "Are you happy today?" It seems that as long as the children are happy, it doesn't matter much whether they learn knowledge or not.
I have followed my daughter to participate in the class activities of two little grandchildren many times. I know that primary schools in the United States are class teachers, who are responsible for the teaching and management of a class. For many years, he was only responsible for teaching in the same grade. Some teachers take the first grade exam from work to retirement, and the main courses such as literature, mathematics, history, geography and social science are taught by the head teacher. The reason is that the business will be more familiar. And sports, music and other courses have special teachers in charge. American classrooms are carpeted, with one student and four or five small tables put together and students sitting face to face. In the corner of the classroom is the teacher's desk. Usually, teachers are very active with students in class. Children's graffiti works are pasted on the classroom wall, colorful, with schoolbags under their feet. There seems to be no rules in class. Some sit on stools, some sit on carpets, some kneel on carpets, and some even lie prone on carpets. Of course, there are teachers in class, but most of them are discussions and speeches, and everyone is scrambling. The teacher will affirm the positive side of all speeches and will not criticize and accuse. There are no mistakes, only good and better. There is no uniform standard answer, and even the teacher's speech is only for students' reference. If students put forward different opinions on the teacher's speech, even if they are wrong, the teacher will appreciate it and give encouragement.
The school adopts a form similar to class meeting, and regularly lets children take turns to be the host, take food and drink, and enjoy it with the whole class and teachers. And introduce the geographical environment, living habits and interesting things of our country and nation to our classmates and teachers. Everyone has this opportunity once or twice every semester. Teachers don't eat and drink, but also bring things as masters, which embodies a kind of equality. My granddaughter participated in such a theme activity in the class for the first time as a host. It was her daughter who introduced China. Later, her granddaughter prepared and introduced herself. I sigh that seemingly simple activities are not simple, and the exercise for children is not clear, but it is real and multifaceted. After several times of practice, the original timid granddaughter also generously stood on the podium and told the story she wanted to tell, which made great progress.
American school exam results are never published, let alone ranked. They believe that a person's ability is multifaceted, and test scores are not the main criterion for measuring children. This kind of ranking will lead to the wrong guidance for children, and children will be discouraged because of failing the exam, and may also be laughed at by others, which will damage some children's self-esteem and self-confidence. In the long run, it will kill a child's dignity and confidence. What can a child achieve in life when he thinks he is a failure? What education should get is not rote knowledge, but an interest and habit of learning, thinking and research, which people can use for a lifetime. This is another kind of thinking that is different from our usual thinking. It gives me a refreshing feeling and makes me think for a long time-what should schools teach children? Which textbooks are more important, or the interests and habits of learning, thinking and research? ! Occasionally I read an article about Qian Weichang. Qian Weichang grew up in a poor family and was able to go to school with the support of his family. 193 1 was admitted to Tsinghua University and chose the history department. When War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out, in order to serve the country, he issued the grandiloquence that "the motherland needs our major" and decided to abandon the literature and reason, but Wu, head of the Department of Physics, flatly refused. Nonsense, I only got 5 points in physics and want to change my department. It's just a fucking promise. At that time, there were only 10 places in the department of physics, and one fifth of the students enrolled wanted to study, which was extremely difficult. Chen, the head of the history department, asked around why the student who got full marks in the literature and history exam didn't report it and certainly wouldn't let him go. But Qian Weichang didn't give up and mobilized all the forces that could be mobilized, including his uncle Qian Mu and his own obsession. Things finally took a turn for the better. Wu finally let go and asked for three courses, general chemistry, general physics and advanced mathematics, in the first semester, with a score of more than 70, so you can try first. These courses are his shortcomings, and the math and physics in the college entrance examination is only 20 points! From then on, he began to study hard at the Science and Technology Museum. During this period, I happened to meet Hua, a self-taught scholar, and gave him the necessary guidance, so that he gradually adapted and got better and better, and successfully passed the exam of the China-UK Geng Club. I can study in the United States under the guidance of Von Carmen, the father of aerospace in the world. His life is full of legends, and he has made important contributions to the national defense construction and the success of "two bombs and one satellite". He is known as "the father of China mechanics" and "the father of applied mathematics". Qian Weichang gave up his strengths and chose his weaknesses, but he achieved such impressive results. With what? He teased himself: I have the ability to learn what I am doing, and I think he has revealed the root cause. If life is lengthened, short-term achievements and knowledge gained in the past will be less important. What is important is that the desire to explore and the ability to learn will make a person go further.
Chinese education in primary and secondary schools in the United States attaches importance to discussion and requires thinking and expression. Do you agree or disagree with a point of view? If so, what are the reasons? If not, what are the reasons? Exercise your thinking and expression skills. In primary school, book reviews are required to encourage children to create. My granddaughter really published her first book when she was in grade five. The illustrations and cover design in the book are all made by herself. I don't know the level, but I am surprised to write a book and publish it. Their composition topics are varied, most of which are close to life, their reading experience and their observation of life, and sometimes some out-of-line topics are shocking. For example, learn the history of World War II, and let ten-year-olds answer if you were a senior adviser to President Truman, would you support him in dropping the atomic bomb? Who do you think is responsible for World War II? Why Japan was defeated and so on. When the granddaughter was in the fourth grade, the teacher left an assignment and wrote a paper entitled "Yesterday and Today of the Motherland". The teacher said that the United States is an immigrant country, and the children in the school or their ancestors come from all over the world. Students should understand the history of the motherland, understand the present situation of the motherland, and have their own evaluation of the future development. I was shocked to see such an assignment! This is a thesis of a university or graduate student! What do ten-year-olds do! In fact, the teacher didn't ask how much to write, but wanted to attract the children's eyes to the boundless ocean of knowledge outside the school. The time and space of human life is to study the classroom, so that children can see things from a broader perspective, think about problems, and cultivate their thinking ability and habits. I was once in a Chinese school in South Carolina (giving Chinese lessons to children for half a day every Sunday morning) and talked with an American from China about his composition in China. The title of the teacher's composition is' Why can't a room be swept away?' He didn't write according to the teacher's request, but was ingenious, to the effect that the social development is getting faster and faster and the division of labor is getting finer and finer. Everyone's time and energy are limited. It is impossible to learn everything and study everything. Let everyone concentrate on their own field, study a certain direction, sweep the house and sweep the world, and this society will develop further. I didn't expect the teacher to spend a long time criticizing his views when commenting on the composition. Finally, let him talk about his feelings. Maybe the teacher's purpose is to make him reflect on himself and admit his mistakes. But he defended his point of view and caused the teacher's thunderous anger. The final conclusion is that this obedient boy can't be taught, which makes him very embarrassed. After many years, he still remembers it clearly, especially after he arrived in the United States. He thinks his point of view is correct. Although the teacher's point of view is correct, the practice of giving standard answers is definitely not conducive to guiding students' thinking. I also think he is right.
(3) American primary and secondary schools are increasing their burden.
Most people in developed countries in the world think that compulsory education in the United States is terrible and a failure. In international Olympic knowledge contests, China students always win gold medals and silver medals, and return home with full loads. We are happy and Americans are jealous. I have also heard many times that American parents envy China students for having mastered so much knowledge and won so many awards. Faced with the negative impact of the poor quality of primary and secondary education on the global competitiveness of the United States, some elites clamored for reform, and more Americans began to think about their current compulsory education, believing that there were many problems.
American schools have no unified teaching materials and requirements, and the basic subjects of compulsory education, such as mathematics, physics and chemistry, are lower than those of other countries, especially China. For decades, the learning level of primary and secondary school students in the United States has gone from bad to worse, and the proportion of failing math reading and other subjects has also been rising. Some educators bluntly say that compulsory education in the United States has indeed reached a frustrating level. Many domestic students studying in the United States have taken the G R E exam, that is, the postgraduate exam, but the mathematics level of their postgraduate entrance examination belongs to the mathematics level of domestic high schools and even junior high schools. I know a Sichuanese who works in an American enterprise, and the enterprise sent him back to China to be a regional manager. Two children who went to primary school did not adapt to the entrance examination after returning home, but they were absolutely first-class in the United States! Parents try their best to make up lessons for their children at home, but the children are still one of the worst students in the class. I saw an article written by Ms. Su on the Internet. Her fourth-grade son went to America to study. After reading China's math textbook, the teacher said, "There is no need to take math class in primary school, and there is no need in the early junior high school." Ms. Su was shocked. Is the gap really that big? When my granddaughter was in the third grade, she said that some students in the class were still doing math problems with their fingers. Really, the solidity of basic education in China, especially in mathematics, physics and chemistry, can't compare with that in the United States. Coincidentally, I met an acquaintance a few days ago, saying that his friend immigrated to Australia and his daughter was in the first grade of junior high school in China, but after going to Australia, the teacher said that mathematics could be read as a senior one.
With the attack of public opinion at home and abroad on compulsory education in the United States, the Obama administration is prepared to drastically reform primary education, requiring the whole country to adopt uniform standards and reform teaching materials, especially natural science and mathematics subjects, so that future middle school students can master part of the knowledge of current high school students. In fact, Obama's decision to let his children learn our children's mathematics from junior high school or primary school should not be an arrogant move, but some Americans think it is unrealistic and a bit outrageous!
On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which set up a $4.355 billion Race to the Top Fund to encourage schools to propose innovative measures to improve students' performance. On March 20 14, the Obama administration submitted the Blue Book of Education Reform to Congress. It is emphasized that all states, school districts and schools that have made remarkable progress in education reform and improving students' academic performance can get more financial aid and be given greater autonomy in the use of funds. However, Americans are generally not optimistic about Obama's decision, and some people in the education sector think that this is simply impossible.
Because of American law, the federal government has no decision-making power over education, and each state is in charge of its own affairs. The school districts under each state are autonomous and the school districts have the final say. Governments at all levels and social elites are in a hurry, but under the American system, it is difficult to do much. The Missouri school district in Kansas, USA, started an experiment on 22/2000 1 month. Stop the weekend system, and more than 2,400 students have to make up math and reading classes on Saturday. Because of the laws of the country, it was only "sneaking around" at first, and then students were encouraged to participate. Strangely, in the United States, which abides by the law so much, this measure has not been banned, but has been supported by teachers and parents, and capable educators also think that the plan is feasible. S, research director of Metropolitan School Board, said that the board manages 6.6 million students in 58 urban campuses in Kansas? Lewis appreciated it very much and said bluntly, "This is a good plan." In China and many Asian countries, in order to protect children's physical and mental health, many schools in the United States are carrying out various "burden-increasing" experiments, hoping to improve students' grades and make American basic education brilliant and effective.